Dat Nguyen

Legendary player and coach, Dat Nguyen, was born at a refugee center in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas after his family left South Vietnam during the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. Nguyen lived most of his childhood in Rockport, Texas where we attended Rockport-Fulton High School playing linebacker and handling punting duties.

Nguyen decided to continue his career in College Station playing for the Texas A&M Aggies. As a freshman at Texas A&M, he was named the Southwestern Conference Defensive Newcomer of the Year and earned first-team All-Big 12 honors three consecutive times between 1996 and 1998. In 1997, Nguyen was named the Aggies’ MVP and was awarded the Lombardi Award, the Jack Lambert Award, the Chuck Bednarik Award, was a unanimous All-American, and was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year all during his 1998 senior season.

Nguyen became the first Vietnamese-American to play in the NFL when the Dallas Cowboys drafted him in 1999. During his seven seasons playing in the NFL, Nguyen was a part of the All-Rookie Special Teams Team in 1999 and All-Pro Team in 2003. Nguyen is a member of the 2005 Big 12 10th Anniversary Team and the 2010 AP All-Time Big 12 Team.

Making his coaching debut with the Cowboys as an Assistant Linebackers Coach and Defensive Quality Control Coach in 2007, Nguyen returned to his alma mater, Texas A&M University after coaching for three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. Dat Nguyen coached under Mike Sherman for two seasons as the Aggies’ Inside Linebackers Coach. Currently, Nguyen lives in San Antonio and co-hosts for ESPN Radio.